Every major tech headline of 2017 has had one underlying theme —
Artificial intelligence (AI). It has been all about AI, machine learning
or deep learning. In 2017, we saw the rise of GPU makers like Nvidia as
their products took the lead in driving the focus towards hardware
solutions tailored for AI. Interestingly we also saw some phones that
have started to come with dedicated hardware optimised for AI. If 2017
is an indicator, 2018 is likely to be the year of AI of phones. Every
year we see one underlying technology come to the fore. For 2017, we
could say it was bezel-less screens, like 2016 was the year of dual
camera phones and 2018, could very well be the year of phones that tout
AI optimised hardware.

Who innovated in 2017Right now, there are three to four companies that come to mind. Apple, Google, Huawei and Samsung
are the likely contenders who could take the lead in this space. Huawei
and Apple design their own processors and have already added dedicated
neural processing units in their latest Kirin 970 and A11 processors
which are used in phones like the soon to be launched Honor View 10 and
iPhone 8 / iPhone X. Google has designed the Pixel Vision Core
co-processor which has been activated with the Android Oreo 8.1 update
and going by Samsung’s intense focus on Bixby it could be working on
something as well. AI services and ambient computing concepts are a big
priority at Samsung and there is a high possibility that it could be
working on something that augments and enhances Bixby in its Galaxy S9,
though Samsung didn’t announce anything specific for AI when it
announced the Exynos 9810 processor in November...

Who is likely to lead in 2018 It goes without saying that Apple is going to be a leader in this
space having been the first company to have a neural chip in a phone
that’s sold at scale. Apple has been a big proponent of on-device
processing for privacy purposes as well. The next generation of the
iPhone will obviously be a big deal; however, one shouldn’t discount the
current iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models which all also have
this neural engine.At the high-end of the spectrum, you can expect Google to double down
on AI focused hardware. The Pixel Vision Core was its first attempt.
For the Pixel 3, there could be something more advanced. Imagine,
without even a processor on a phone that supports on-device machine
learning Google was able to achieve incredible results on the Pixel 2
especially with the camera! Google was able to use its machine learning
prowess to enable a portrait mode using just one camera. But then again,
Google is the quintessential AI company. Google also bought HTC’s
smartphone team to double down on the Pixel line, so one should expect
something crazy AI focussed from Google in the latter half of 2018.Samsung has been making some big jumps in the AI space. It bought Viv
in 2016, which was created by the team behind Apple’s Siri. It then
launched Bixby and has been expanding it as a platform. There is no
hardware as of now to speak of, but Samsung can or rather should change
this. It will be very surprising if they don’t have a mobile
co-processor for AI for its phone next year.Huawei is not be left alone in this space. Along with Apple, it is a
leader in this space. It’s first AI focussed device was the Honor Magic
which was a China focussed device. This year with the launch of the
Kirin 970 processor, Huawei launched the Mate 10 devices this year,
which have a huge AI focus. Yes, they may not sell even half as much as
the iPhone, but for the Android pack, they have been leading AI
implementations from a hardware perspective.Read more...

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About Me

Hello, my name is Helge Scherlund and I am the Education Editor and Online Educator of this personal weblog and the founder of eLearning • Computer-Mediated Communication Center.
I have an education in the teaching adults and adult learning from Roskilde University, with Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Human Resource Development (HRD) as specially studied subjects. I am the author of several articles and publications about the use of decision support tools, e-learning and computer-mediated communication. I am a member of The Danish Mathematical Society (DMF), The Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics (DSTS) and an individual member of the European Mathematical Society (EMS). Note: Comments published here are purely my own and do not reflect those of my current or future employers or other organizations.